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Friday, 31 August 2012

MIXTAPE REVIEW: TYRESE AKA BLACK-TY-INVISIBLE BULLY: THE LOST TAPES

5/5

Back To School.

Tyrese Gibson does things BIG! The singer/actor is without a doubt the hardest working man in all of entertainment. The franchise star of 'Transformers' has recently been on location in London filming 'Fast Six', the latest in 'The Fast & The Furious' franchise which is leaving other action films in the rear-view coughing up dust. If that wasn't enough the driven star has wrote a New York times bestseller ('How To Get Out Of Your Own Way') and is currently revving up the book 'Manology' with Rev Run of legendary hip-hop group Run-DMC.

As if that wasn't enough the 2 million followed man on Twitter has much more coming through the feeds. We haven't even begun to talk about his music. The singer/songwriter has teamed up with fellow R&B legends Ginuwine and Tank to form the supergroup TGT who have a new album for the new year which-with all due respect-could even send acts like Boyz II Men back to adolescence. Tyrese's own latest ('Open Invitation') was his biggest yet, coming last fall with the scorching singles 'Stay', 'Too Easy' featuring 'Fast' partner Ludacris riding shotgun and so much more soul.

The classic 'Open Invitation' was Tyrese's first album since the huge 'Alter-Ego', where Gibson doubled up on discs showing his R&B side and mega-hit 'One' on one and his rapping side on the other. With songs like 'Fly Away', 'Roses', 'Roll The Dice' 'Ghetto Days' and more Tyrese's rapping alter-ego Black-Ty showed he was no gimmick or side-project. Alongside West Coast greats like Kurupt, Snoop Dogg and The Game the Watts City jugganaut showed he was and remains the real deal. Now if ruling the record stores, film reels and bookshelves wasn't enough Black-Ty is back with 'Invisible Bully-The Lost Tapes'. A free mixtape which is worth so much more. Want genuine, generous talent? Then how's over 50 new tracks for your iTunes megabytes? 50 Cent may aswell be here too, because everyone else is. Everyone who is part of the who's who of hip-hop and R&B are on the honor roll call of these lost tapes. A half century plus three set of three figure percentage tracks.

Rick Ross, Kanye West, Robin Thicke, Snoop Dogg, Akon, R. Kelly, T.I., Busta Rhymes to name a few...and THE legendary Stevie Wonder help showcase the rap and R&B sides of this man. Taking transparent rappers back to school on the 'Invisible Bully' mixtape Tyrese sees through it all. Its a Black-Ty affair so its time for the competition to smarten up. 'Switching it up', Black-Ty gets cake with Cassidy while giving more imagination and depth to Snoop, Dre and D'Angelo's 'Imagine' and Busta Rhymes 'Been Through The Storm'. Kurupt is back with his fellow Californian while Black-Ty even features himself on 'Press Release' and more. Read and listen all about it Black-Ty is the only rapper in the game that can get the best R&B singer on his hooks on demand...himself. DMX, Bishop Lamont and the legendary Ice Cube are also on call for some formidable features.

Choice classics off Black-Ty's 'Alter-Ego' album, 'Ghetto Royalty' mixtape and Tyrese's 'Open Invitation' round out some more rap/R&B urban sound for the mixtape record. As do some brilliant B-Sides like the Brandy featured 'Rest Of Our Lives' which amazingly didn't make 'Invitation' and great big remixes of 'Fireworkz' and 'Stay' (which sounds like an entirely new song with Faith Evans and Rick Ross making one of those classic remixes of a classic). Great freestyles over Jay-Z hits, 'The Watcher' and California classics like 'Boyz N Da Hood' (with Beanie Sigel and Freeway) make this free tape a reel worthy expanse set for the multi-million star of the film reels, showing he can stand in the mic booth with the best. Even remixes like the top TGT feature on Slim Thug's 'Let Me Grind', the TGT remix of Tank's classic 'Please Don't Go' and Ty's cult favorite remix of Kanye's 'Say You Will' make the 808's bounce here.

The majority of this iPod filling tape is original, but even when Ty freestyles over other peoples beats he still keeps it fresh. Like his 'Lost With Guns' socially conscious concept over Jay-Z's 'Lost One'. There are even some beautiful ballad B-Sides's from Tyrese's singing side like 'I Aint Tryna' and the 'You Put Up With Me' (which hits you right away as being just as great as his award worthy feature on late West legend Tupac Shakur's 'Never Call You Bitch Again') that thankfully make the tape instead of the albums they should have. Like any great rapper does Black-Ty even remixes his own classic featuring himself as Tyrese's 'One' gets a ghetto face-lift with 'You're The Only One', Method Man and Mary J over Marvin 'All I Need' style. It's clear to hear the 'Baby Boy' breakout star is on top, West Coast form like 'Baby Girl' featuring Glenn Lewis.

Classic after classic, 'Bully' man-handles the game. Its clear to hear 'Invisible' reopens another chapter of this mans career. This is the ultimate tape for Tyrese fans and followers and as his friend and rap mentor Kurupt rhymes with him on the freestyle 'Change The Game' you can tell Black-Ty is doing exactly that. Its about more than the features though...its about him. Tyrese Gibson isn't just a great singer as well as an actor, he's a great, legit rap star too. Now let's hope his alter-ego makes it on his next album, (especially if its a double disc). Or an album of its own, because Black-Ty is an artist in his own right. What does 'rese have left? (Update: apparantly 4 more formidable tracks just for you) TIM DAVID HARVEY.